Author: Traci Deveau

Director of HR Process Design

Traci Deveau

About: Accomplished, innovative, and results-driven business leader with over 18 years of marketing, sales, and Human Resources experience. Key strength in identifying and introducing organizational solutions to support strategic goals and provide foundation for growth while fostering a learning-oriented, talent-driven culture. Known for delivering a strong ROI and cutting bottom-line costs for mission-critical initiatives.

Posts by Traci Deveau:

A Change Would Do You Good

February 26, 2015 A Change Would Do You Good How many times in the last few years (be honest) have you been involved in an HR project to identify something…a process, a model, a technology, a strategy to improve overall performance? How many times has that project been put on hold due to funding, resources, lack of leadership backing, or something else? And how many times has the broken inefficient process just continued? Does it all stem from a poorly supported or drafted business plan? In truth there are a hundred reasons why a project doesn’t come to fruition. But one stands above them all. A change would do you good, yet your business won’t successfully change or evolve when the PROCESS continues to be broken. What do I mean and what I think is the root of the problem? Resistance, the in…

5 Reasons You Need HR Case Management Solution

December 16, 2014 There are potentially hundreds of reasons your company needs an HR Case Management (HCM) or HR Help Desk software solution. I’m going to briefly point out the five most obvious which will likely keep you up nights trying to figure out how you’re going to get this project added to your short-term list of Top HR Initiatives. If you’re currently in an HR Shared Service model, you’re probably ahead of the curve and on your way toward putting in the backbone (technology) or you already have. Otherwise…here’s the down-and-dirty rationale on why you need an HCM technology solution. You’re being sued Are you currently facing litigation? If so, you clearly understand the stress of having to gather the supporting information to defend your side of the lawsuit. If the employee was fired for cause for instance, it would be helpful,…

HR, Still the “Ugly Step-Child” When it Comes to Technology

August 5, 2014 Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the HRSSI Conference in Atlanta. The conference is a Human Resources (HR) Shared Services event for HR Executives and Jim Scully has done a nice job of marketing to that particular audience with content rich in information without the SALES pitch of other HR Shared Services shows. It is appropriately named the HRSSI Shared Service Institute Executive Retreat. I came away from the HRSSI retreat with a few new friends and some valuable insight on current trends, challenges and what technology solutions are prevalent in HR Shared Services today. Many of the scheduled presenters had solid metrics that they were willing to share and discuss. I left with a burning question though…why are so many of Fortune Top 500 Companies forced to use their IT Departments CRM solution/technology to manage the complex HR…

HR Shared Services Summit

May 6, 2014 Dovetail Software is a sponsor of the 15th HR Shared Services and Outsourcing Summit in Chicago, May 19-21st. The show itself provides an opportunity for HR professionals to network with vendors and other HR Shared Services leaders as well a gain insight from industry leaders on a vast array of topics facing today's HR shared service organizations. The conference is being held in downtown Chicago at the Marriott. My colleague and friend Dwane Lay will be leading a pre-conference workshop Monday afternoon at 3:30 on data security in a session titled “Data Data Everywhere”. For those of you that haven’t met Dwane, this is your chance and you’re in for a treat. Dwane heads up our HR Process Design at Dovetail, he's a Six-Sigma Black Belt and a LEAN HR guy. In other words, he knows his stuff and…

HR RFP Creation: Solutions to Improve the Process

January 13, 2014 RFP = Request for Proposal RFI = Request for Information RFQ = Request for Quote So you want to create an RFP for your human resources (HR) project huh? Really? Why? I find it funny that so many companies are putting HR projects out for an RFP without a clear goal in mind. I mean, essentially they all have the same goal overall, don’t they…to get the best solution at the lowest possible cost. But, shouldn’t there be a higher objective? Shouldn’t the goal be to determine how each vendor matches up against the unique requirements of your organization? Shouldn’t there be at least one SPECIFIC goal that means something to your company? What are you REALLY trying to accomplish? Certainly it isn’t to create more work for your team especially since HR teams are leaner than ever. I’m…

Business Ethics, A Thing of the Past?

October 31, 2013 As a Sales Director for Dovetail Software, I work daily with many different companies looking for HR Help Desk Software. Often these are organization conducting an RFP for their HR Shared Service organization. They are generally comparing vendors in order to find the solution that best meets the needs of their organizations. What I keep seeing are situations where our competitors grossly exaggerate their number of clients and most often the functionality of their product/software. So I wonder, is the term “Business Ethics” an oxymoron? Is it now the norm to lie and thus the sole responsibility of the company to properly vet out the vendors that are being dishonest? Being honest and forthright is something we believe in as an organization and my personal brand is important to me so I steer away from that practice. However, I’m…

Why Many HR Software Implementations Fail

August 22, 2013 Based on my years of professional experience in HR technology and implementation in particular, I'd like offer some thoughts on why software implementations fail. In my opinion, the reason many implementations fail is actually two-fold. Either the process is made unnecessarily complicated and weighed down by bureaucracy or the overall project isn't given enough merit and by that I mean not having the right team members in place, adequate time devoted to the project, clear cut objectives, a lack of strategic planning, and finally often saddled with a deadline that prohibits success. The dreaded over complicated project typically drags on endlessly, is often over complicated by a series of scope calls where no one makes strategic decisions without a series of sub-meetings and second guessing. These implementations often have too many team members involved in the process which…